It is known to provide a side door system for a side opening in a vehicle body of a vehicle. It is also known to provide a front side door and a rear side door to form the side door system for the vehicle body. In such a side door system, the front side door is hinged or attached to an A pillar of the vehicle body to move between positions of opening and closing for the side opening. The rear side door is hinged or attached to the B pillar of the vehicle body to move between positions for opening and closing the side opening. Typically, a pair of single axis hinges is used for each of the doors to allow the front side door and rear side door to swing out forward with respect to the vehicle.
In another embodiment, the vehicle body may include a continuous side opening extending longitudinally from the A pillar to a C pillar for the side door system. In such a side door system, the front side door is hinged or attached to an A pillar of the vehicle body to move between positions of opening and closing for a front portion of the side opening. The rear side door is hinged or attached to the C pillar of the vehicle body to move between positions for opening and closing a rear portion of the side opening. Typically, a pair of single axis hinges is used for each of the doors to allow the front side door and rear side door to swing out with respect to the vehicle. Typically, the front side door is opened before the rear side door may be opened.
In addition, these side door systems do not allow easy ingress and egress for the vehicle in some parking conditions, for example, in a confined cross car space. With both doors opened and the vehicle parked along side of another vehicle or structure, access to the vehicle is blocked. This results in the occupant having to shuffle between the side doors and the vehicle or having to open and close the rear side door each time they ingress and egress the vehicle, which is undesired.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a hinge assembly for a side door system of a vehicle that allows easier ingress/egress or loading into the vehicle in tight or confined parking conditions. It is also desirable to eliminate a single axis hinge for a side door system of a vehicle. It is further desirable to provide a hinge assembly that allows a rear side door of a side door system of a vehicle to be opened independently of a front side door of the side door system. Thus, there is a need in the art to provide a hinge assembly for a side door system of a vehicle that meets these desires.